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2 Sun Life sites earn Level 3 recognition for patient-centered care

January 22nd, 2015

Two more of Sun Life Family Health Center’s offices in Pinal County received the official Level 3 recognition, the highest possible, for the Patient-Centered Medical Home 2011 (PCMH) program for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long-term participative relationships.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) notified Sun Life in December of its award for its Coolidge and San Manuel locations. Sun Life’s Casa Grandelocation had already achieved Level 3 recognition this past June. Sun Life’s site in Maricopa had achieved Level 2 status over the summer, as well.

The patient-centered medical home is a model of care emphasizing care coordination and communication to transform primary care into ‘what patients want it to be.’ Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and improve patients’ and providers’ reported experiences of care. The PCMH identifies practices that promote partnerships between individual patients and their personal clinicians, instead of treating patient care as the sum of several episodic office visits. Each patient’s care is tended to by clinician-led care teams, who provide for all the patient’s health care needs and coordinate treatments across the health care system. Medical home clinicians demonstrate the benchmarks of patient-centered care, including open scheduling, expanded hours and appropriate use of proven health information systems.

“The patient-centered medical home raises the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and partnerships between clinicians and patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “PCMH Recognition shows that Sun Life Family Health Center has the tools, systems, and resources to provide their patients with the right care at the right time.”

To receive recognition, which is valid for three years, Sun Life demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements embodying characteristics of the medical home. The standards are aligned with the joint principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home established with the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Osteopathic Association.

Sun Life met key program components in the following areas:

·Written standards for patient access and continuity of care

·Use of patient feedback materials

·Appropriate use of charting tools to track patients and organize clinical information

·Responsive care management techniques with an emphases on preventative care for individual patients and for the entire patient population

·Adaption to patient’s cultural and linguistic needs

·Use of information technology for prescriptions, test, and referral tracking and coordination with other health care providers

·Use of evidence-based guidelines to treat chronic conditions

·Measurement and reporting of clinical and service performance

To find clinicians and their practices that have been recognized by the Patient-Centered Medical Home 2011 program, please visit http://recognition.ncqa.org. For further information, contact NCQA customer support at (888) 275-7585.